awesome and epic match! great display from both players! probably nerves and inexpierence cost Mona the match, she was broken at 45 in 1st set and then in the last game before a third set tb! 2h48'! Vika survided a great challenge by Mona!great tournament for Mona, beating in straights Ivanovic and Bartoli.

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If I ever make it to the multi-billionarie class in the next lifetime; this would be my tennis court that I would built and play in! I would rent it out for exhibits and for challenger matches like this tournament. Pays for itself maybe?

Doubles - Quarterfinalsscheduled as last match of the day on centre court, played on court 1 to avoid a finish at 3.00 am(5) Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova (CZE/CZE) d. Llagostera Vives/Niculescu (ESP/ROU) 16 64 10-8 in 1h14'

« Last Edit: April 27, 2012, 05:14:32 PM by conchita »

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Czechs Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova made it a week to remember at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, winning their first WTA doubles title of the year and their 10th overall together.

Seeded No.5, Benesova and Zahlavova Strycova didn't drop a set all week and continued that pattern in the final against Germans Julia Goerges and Anna-Lena Groenefeld, though it wasn't easy - they trailed 3-1 in the first set and 5-2 in the second set - but they came back in both sets to prevail, 64 75.

"This is a big tournament to win as the field was strong, so we're very happy about it," Benesova said. "We've had a great year so far, building on the four titles we won last year, reaching the semifinals of Indian Wells and now this. We'll continue the partnership and our focus is the Grand Slams, for sure."

"The week we had was amazing," Zahlavova Strycova said. "The tournament is incredible and they take care of us so much. We can't thank the organizers enough for what they do for us. We had a really nice week here in Stuttgart."

Benesova and Zahlavova Strycova's previous nine WTA doubles titles have been spread out over the last few years, one in 2008 (Stockholm), one in 2009 (Luxembourg), three in 2010 (Paris [Indoors], Monterrey, Tokyo [Pan Pacific]) and four in 2011 (Sydney, Monterrey, Barcelona and Luxembourg).

Goerges and Groenefeld had a great week too, taking out two seeded teams along the way - including No.1 seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik in the semifinals. In the end it was their third WTA doubles final together, having won the Copenhagen title in 2010 and lost in the final of Linz last year.

"We couldn't take advantage of having 5-2 in the second set today, but it was a good doubles match and we had a great week," Goerges said. "The crowd showed big respect for the players by coming out in such big numbers to watch the doubles final and to support us. It was nice to see all the people coming."

"We played pretty good tennis this week, particularly when we beat the top seeds in the previous round," Groenefeld said. "We had chances in the second set today - we had some close games but couldn't close it out. Sometimes it just happens like that. But it was a great week and nice to be in the final.

"Playing in front of our home crowd was amazing. It was three hours before the singles final and we had almost a full house. We really appreciate all the people coming to watch us - that's why so many players enjoy playing here."

Groenefeld is playing her first season as a doubles specialist - a former Top 20 player in singles, she stopped the individual game at the end of 2011.

"At the end of last year I wasn't happy on court in my singles, and I thought I should do something with my life that makes me happy, so I decided it was time to just play doubles," Groenefeld explained. "Right now I'm really happy with that decision. It has worked out well so far. I'm not so stressed out and I feel within myself. I'm so much happier, which is the most important thing."

This was Groenefeld's second Premier-level final since making the change - she also made the final of Paris [Indoors] this year with Croatia's Petra Martic.

Goerges and Groenefeld had a blast at the only German stop on the WTA.

"It's always fun playing doubles with Anna-Lena and I'm really looking forward to playing more doubles with her," Goerges declared. "My doubles is getting much better. I just love this game because it also helps my singles game."

"It's always fun when we Julia and I play together," Groenefeld said. "She's a great player and hopefully we'll have more successful weeks like this."

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Her huge serve and groundstrokes hitting their mark time and time again, Maria Sharapova was in vintage form in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, finally breaking her finals jinx against World No.1 Victoria Azarenka and capturing her 25th WTA title with a 61 64 victory.

From an absolutely packed field that included all of the Top 8 players in the world it was Azarenka and Sharapova who were the last two standing, although it wasn't easy by any means - in the quarterfinals Azarenka had to rally from a break down in the third set to beat Mona Barthel, and Sharapova actually had to save a match point and battle over three hours to get past Sam Stosur.

In a semifinal line-up that featured the Top 4, Azarenka beat Agnieszka Radwanska while Sharapova beat Petra Kvitova. Not since Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Elena Dementieva made the semis of Wimbledon in 2009 had an all-Top 4 final four happened at any WTA event.

History said Azarenka was the favorite in the final - though her lead in their overall head-to-head was only 5-3, she was 4-0 in finals, winning them all in straight sets - including routine victories in their only head-to-head matches this year, 63 60 in the Australian Open final and 62 63 in the Indian Wells final.

But Sharapova was much sharper this time. She showed some laser-like precision on her groundstrokes, complementing powerful crosscourt blasts with pinpoint down-the-lines off both sides - and she was dominating on her serve, losing just 17 points in her nine service games in the match, not getting broken at all, in fact giving Azarenka just one break to look at (and saving it).

To define Sharapova's sharpness, she hit 31 winners to just 13 unforced errors.

"This was such a tough tournament with such difficult opponents, so I'm just happy to be the champion," Sharapova said in the trophy presentation. "I came to Europe this year a bit earlier than I usually do. I added this to my schedule and was going to use it as a warm-up tournament for the clay court season. But maybe I should start doing it every year since it's obviously working for me."

With the aforementioned match point saved against Stosur, Sharapova is the second player this year to win a WTA title having saved a match point (Angelique Kerber did it in Copenhagen) and the first player in 10 months to do it at a Premier event (Marion Bartoli did it at Eastbourne last June).

Sharapova also scored her sixth win over a World No.1, her first five coming against Lindsay Davenport (at Tokyo [Pan Pacific] and WTA Championships in 2005), Justine Henin (at the Australian Open in 2008), Amélie Mauresmo (at the US Open in 2006) and Caroline Wozniacki (at Rome last year).

Azarenka was looking for her first Premier-level clay court title, her only previous WTA title on this surface coming at the International-level event in Marbella last year. She still leaves with a sparkling 29-2 win-loss record on the year.

"Obviously I'm not happy I lost in the final, but congratulations to Maria, she did a really good job this week," Azarenka said. "It was still a good week for me. I was really happy to come to Stuttgart and I hope to do better next year."

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